So the word "Huai" in Huaibei and the word "Hai" in Haizhou combined to become the name of this campaign, and the name of "Huaihai Campaign" was thus decided. However, this is just a campaign idea called "Little Huaihai". At that time, Hua Ye did not intend to have a Armageddon with 700,000 Jiang troops in Xu Ben. Its core campaign goal is to annihilate the Yellow Corps in the above-mentioned areas and expand the liberated areas to northern Jiangsu and central Jiangsu, and that's all.
The campaign goal of "Little Huaihai" also includes forcing Xuzhou to retreat all or most of the Yangtze River defense line to defend Nanjing, and our army can successfully liberate the vast area north of Huaihe River. According to Xibaipo's original campaign schedule, Hua Ye must complete the above-mentioned combat tasks in 1 1 month and 1 February of 1949, and then rest until1month. In March, he cooperated with the Central Plains Field Army to "defend the enemy at all points along the river" and then "cross the river with the main force in autumn".
You got it? The original campaign goal of Huaihai Campaign was to destroy the Seventh Yellow Corps, forcing the main force of the enemy Herry Liu Group to flee south on three sides, and then preparing to cross the river, which is bound to be more difficult. The estimated time is after August 1949. The estimated targets in the plan include the Yellow Seventh Corps (No.100 Army has not been deployed) with no more than 80,000 troops in three armies, as well as the ninth appeasement area in Haizhou (under the jurisdiction of 44 armies) and the garrison troops in Huaibei and Huaibei. , no more than150,000 people.
Xibaipo also solicited the opinions of the Central Plains Field Army and told him to cooperate with Hua Ye. On September 25th, 1948 (Jinan campaign is in progress), Liu Bocheng, the commander of Nakano, Chen Yi, the first deputy commander, and Li Da, the chief of staff, jointly sent a telegram: "After Jinan was conquered, we unanimously agreed that the first plan was to attack Huaihai campaign, and it was best to help the enemy." At this point, from Xibaipo to Hua Ye and Nakano, we didn't expect how big the battle would be once it started, and we didn't expect that this battle could eat all the Chiang Kai-shek and Xu Bangjun groups.
However, the plan did not change quickly. While General Su Yu was planning to implement the "Little Huaihai" campaign, Chiang Kai-shek was also making emergency arrangements. One of the important decisions was to give up the original key points such as Zhengzhou (Sun Corps), Shangqiu (Qiu Qingquan Corps), Haizhou (Li Yannian Suiqu District) and Xin 'an Town (Yellow Corps), and all the mobile corps shrank near Xuzhou in an attempt to confront the East China Field Army that was determined to go south. In late September, when the main force of Nakano, who was in charge of cooperation, surrounded Zhengzhou, he suddenly found that most of the enemy troops on the defensive had fled in the direction of Xuzhou.
As a result, the battlefield situation appeared a brand-new pattern: our two field armies were in a favorable position to attack Xuzhou from east to west. By the beginning of June 1948 1 1, the battle of Jinan and the battle of Liaoshen had been successfully ended, and the number of our field troops completely overwhelmed Chiang Kai-shek for the first time, forming a contrast between 3140 thousand people and 2.9 million people. It is a foregone conclusion that the Northeast Field Army will enter the customs. Hua Ye and Nakano have no worries (they were worried that the enemy in North China would go south to reinforce them), and the conditions for a strategic decisive battle are becoming more and more mature. 1October 8th, 165438+, after all-night talks with Zhang zhen's chief of staff, Su Yu sent Xibaipo the famous "Chen Qidian" in military history.
The significance of this message lies in that Su Yu first proposed that after Huang annihilated 65,438+200,000 people, Hua Ye's main force would not go south to the Huaihe River for the time being, but seek a decisive battle with Chiang Kai-shek's Xuzhou heavily armed group to the west, thus annihilating all Chiang Kai-shek's main forces north of the Yangtze River, which would be beneficial to cross the river in the future. The prediction in the telegram that "there will be no big battles south of the Yangtze River in the future" and "serious battles will only be fought in South China" has been proved surprisingly accurate by history, and it also fully shows the military mind of Su Yu's genius (referring to the 8th and the 7th to 9th).
Xibaipo's reply was quick and concise: "Su Zhang told East China Bureau and Central China Bureau: Qi Chen telegraphed that we should try our best to annihilate the main enemy forces near Xuzhou, so as not to flee south, and East China, North China and Central China should make every effort to ensure the supply of our troops"! This means that this great man also sublimated the idea of Huaihai Campaign to the height of "Great Huaihai" in the strategic decisive battle, and wanted to destroy 700,000 enemy troops assembled between Xu and Bian. Many years later, Su Yu still recalled: "This telegram is short, but every word counts." .
According to the campaign policy of "Great Huaihai", the Central Plains Field Army entered the battlefield of Xuzhou under the orders of the whole army, and first captured Su Xian, an important town between Xuzhou and Bengbu, which not only cut off the communication line of Xuzhou, the garrison, and the land contact with Nanjing, but also cut off the retreat of Herry Liu Group and several mobile regiments in the appeasement area, and the Huaihai campaign reached a climax. From 165438+ 10, the East China Field Army went south to annihilate Huang, and from 1949, 65438+ 10, 10, Du Yutuan was annihilated. Our army wiped out 5 regiments, 22 armies and 22 armies of Chiang Kai-shek at the cost of134,000 casualties.
The all-round victory of Huaihai Campaign completely lost Chiang Kai-shek's elite main forces in East China militarily, especially the Qiu Qingquan 2nd Corps and Huang Wei 12 Corps, the backbone of the directly affiliated troops, which included the 5th Army and 18 Army, which were called the "five main forces". The north of Huaihe River has been completely liberated, and only Anqing, a major town in the north of the Yangtze River, is still under Chiang Kai-shek's control. The main forces of our two field armies have reached the Yangtze River (the Battle of Crossing the Yangtze River was launched in April). The brilliant result of this battle is completely different from the original ideas and predictions, and it can be called the most varied and complicated military miracle in the history of war.